A bureau-puller struck at a house in Choolaimedu in the early hours of Wednesday.
The burglar decamped with nearly 200 sovereigns of jewellery and over Rs. 2 lakh from the ground floor residence of Naseer alias Ranger Naseer (37), on Kannagi Street.
Naseer who is a realtor and an AIADMK functionary, was asleep in the hall with his wife and two daughters at the time of the burglary.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Naseer said he woke up around 4 a.m. as there was a brief power cut in the house.
“I was shocked to find that an almirah (steel bureau) in one of the bedrooms had moved a few metres closer to the window, facing it. I found it open and close to 200 sovereigns of gold jewellery, over Rs. 2 lakh and two small hundis kept inside were missing,” he added.
The realtor suspects the burglary was committed from outside the house by turning and pulling the almirah towards the window after the culprit opened the window’s glass, which was kept in place using an AC remote.
Naseer immediately alerted the police and a team reached the house and carried out preliminary investigations.
Many incidents of bureau-pulling were last reported in Tambaram and St. Thomas Mount areas towards the end of 2006.
The following year, a notorious bureau-puller, Nagamani was arrested and a huge quantity of stolen jewellery was recovered, sources said.